In Pictures: Weird and wonderful high-tech inventions of the world

From robotic waiters and high-tech bicycles to “privacy visors,” we take a look at recent inventions that are strange but beautiful

From robotic waiters and high-tech bicycles to “privacy visors,” we take a look at recent inventions that are strange but beautiful.

Robots deliver dishes of food at a Robot Restaurant in Harbin in China.

An iPhone-shaped monument was erected in memory of Apple’s co-founder Steve Jobs in a courtyard in St. Petersburg, Russia’s State University of Information Technology, Mechanics & Optics. Designed by Gleb Tarasov, the 74-inch-tall interactive glass monument can withstand cold temperatures.

Paralyzed patient Yan Ching-hong surfs the Internet by using a pacifier-shaped switch invented by Luo Ching-hsing, a professor at Taiwan’s National Cheng Kung University. The device lets the patient type on a computer and even play video plays.

A customer playfully lounges on the 3.6-meter-high custom-made female robot at the newly-opened “Robot Restaurant” in Tokyo, Japan.

In New York City, tattoo artist Dave Hurban displays an iPod Nano which he has attached to his wrists through magnetic piercings.

The looming 18-meter-high tall robot named “Gundar” was installed to promote the entertainment facility “Gundar Front Tokyo” last May.

Launched in a helium balloon by NASA, “Camilla the rubber chicken” is seen at 124,800 feet above California in March of last year. This was a science project for students.

Honda Motor Company’s humanoid robot pours a drink with a cup during the 42nd Tokyo Motor Show a few years ago.

Biologist analyst Alan Dowden of the Seattle Sperm Bank rides the Sperm Bike, a custom-designed, high-tech bicycle used to transport sperm to fertility clinics. The bike makes use of liquid nitrogen cooled in vacuum containers.

This watch phone by manufacturer Burg has a SIM card and Bluetooth.

In Dashu village in China, local farmer Shu Mansheng hovers above the ground in his homemade self-designed flying device. It hovered 10 seconds at about 3.3 feet above ground.

The giant “Kuratas” robot at an exhibition in Tokyo last November is a 4-meter-high limited edition that’s controlled through a pilot in its cockpit or via a smartphone (see next slide).

Robotics expert Watanaru Yoshizaki demonstrates how to operate the arm of the giant “Kuratas” robot at an exhibition last November in Tokyo. The 4-meter-high robots can be customized in 16 colors and armed with futuristic weapons, including a rocket launcher that fires plastic robots filled with compressed water.

An iPhone fan dressed up as an iPhone waits outside an Apple Store to buy the iPhone 5 in Tokyo last September.

Google founder Sergey Brin appears in “Google Glass” glasses at the Diane von Furstenberg Spring/Summer 2013 collection during New York Fashion week. The invention is intended to bring augmented reality to the wearer who is supposed to be able to connect to the Internet via voice commands.

Chinese inventor Yang Zongfu celebrates his six-ton ball container named Noah’s Ark of China after he succeeds in testing it in Yiwu, Zhejiang province last August. He is said to have spent over $200,000 to build the vessel which can house a family of three and food to live on for 10 months.

Jonas Pfeil of Berlin Technical University holds a “panoramic ball” that he developed which contains 36 mobile-phone cameras that can take a picture at the highest point of the ball’s trajectory when thrown. The ball’s computer program merges all the pictures to a 360-degree image that can be viewed on a monitor.

This flight simulator for immersion training was developed by Belgian company Barco as a training tool for jet pilots to reproduce reality exactly in a full 360-degree view (see next slide).

Geert Matthys, the R&D manager at the Belgian firm Barco, shows what a flight pilot sees in the flight-reality training tool simulator the firm developed for a 360-degree reality view from the air.

Panasonic’s hair-washing robot washes hair on a mannequin in a demonstration in Tokyo. Developed for those who have difficulty with washing their hair, the robot first scans the user’s head, then uses robot fingers to wash the hair.

The scientists at Tokyo’s National Institute of Information came up with this prototype for a “privacy visor” that wards off attempts by cameras using facial-recognition biometrics software to recognize the wearer. The privacy visor is said to use a near-infrared light source that confuses the face-biometrics software without distorting the wearer’s vision.

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